Cape Coral to Ft. Myers to Naples while dodging tornadoes.......

After 4 nights at Burnt Store Marina, a weather window opened so we headed to Cape Coral.  There we docked at the AGLCA harbor host's house, Kitty.  A "harbor host" is a local member (many ports along The Loop have a harbor host) of the AGLCA who volunteers to be a contact to help Loopers with anything they need ~ provisioning, recommendations for site seeing, doctors, hair salons, etc.  Kitty took "help" to a whole new level!  She was absolutely amazing in opening her dock, pool, house, bar, truck and her heart to us.  

They told us that we would meet wonderful people along The Loop and within the first week we met a new life-long friend.  It was such a pleasure getting to know her & her house guests from St. Louis, Jackie & Don.  

Kitty is a member of the Coast Guard Auxilary and was a wealth of knowledge.  She even took the time to "school" us on travelling the rivers from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico.  We won't be in that neck-of-the-woods until next fall, so we took good notes.

Don helped Dave work on the dinghy outboard motor,

And on Tuesday, Jackie & Don took us up to the Muscle City Museum in Punta Gorda.  It is an amazing private collection of over 200 GM cars.  Any of you cars lovers should definitely make it a point to visit if you are ever in the area.

The day was a definite highlight!

Kitty made our stay so enjoyable that it became a joke between her and Dave that we may never leave!!  After 5 days we realized that we were actually "cruisers", so we needed to get cruising!  Many, many thanks to Kitty and off we went....

We ventured to Bimini Basin to anchor for a couple of nights and then went to the other shore of the Caloosahatchee River to stay at Gulf Harbor Marina, where our dear friend Doc Martuccio spends his winters.  Is was so great spending time with Doc.....

at the annual Art Fesitival and Farmers' Market in Cape Coral.
And just hanging out at his condo.

I forgot to mention that the night we stayed at Doc's a tornado hit about 8 miles from where the boat was docked at Kitty's!  We had a second scare within days which drove us to "abandon ship" luckily while docked at GHM.

It just so happened that Jerry (Rags) & Kay Ralph were in town and they had us over for dinner in their beautiful home!

The next good weather window opened, so off we went to Naples on Satuday, the 16th.  This is a picture of the waterway equivalent of a 7 Eleven (see left side of channel).  Boats can pull up for bait, groceries, beverages, etc.

This is the Sanibel Island bridge that took us out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Before we started the 25 mile off-shore run to Naples, we went to Ballard Oil to fill up the tanks ($1.79/gal for diesel....YAY!)  These are just a few of the sights we passed on our way to the fuel dock on Ft. Myers Beach.

Sailboat docked near the Ft. Myers Beach bridge.

 Commercial shrimp boats.

Ft. Myers Beach at the Pink Shell Resort.

Thanks to Marv's Weather Service, we knew the wind and waves were going to be calm and low, which is how I like it! It was so pleasant that we even slowed the engines down to about 1,000 RPM (or 6 MPH) so that Dave could do a little fishing.  He quickly caught a Spanish Mackeral.

The ride up Naples Bay was chaotic with the weekend boaters out in full force!  Here's a picture of one of the many beautiful homes that line the Bay.  Check out the boat with four 300 HP motors on that man's toy!

With another wicked storm forecasted to hit between 3 & 8 AM Sunday morning, we were glad to get docked at Old Naples Seaport.

It was a short walk to The Dock Restaurant near the Naples City Dock, where the first person we saw had on an Ohio State shirt and hat.  I think I say "O H" at lease once a day, there are so many Buckeye fans down here!

View from our table . . . .

Well unfortunately Marv was right and at 5:15 AM our phone weather alert alarms started blaring.  The winds sounded too much like a freight train, so we abandoned ship for the second time in a week and took shelter in the laundry center at the marina.   When daylight came, it was obvious that a fierce storm had passed.  We were told that 80 MPH winds came through the area.

These two sailboats weren't there before!  Their anchors didn't hold and the storm dragged them just behind several yachts.  And this is just next door to the marina.

A guy on the dock today told Dave that he has been here 30 years and has never experienced such a storm..... just our luck!  But we are just fine and Phase II only suffered an injury to the bimini frame which Capt. Dave had the tools and the know-how to immediately fix (we're so lucky to have him!!!)

We are going to spend a few days here to enjoy beautiful Naples and then it's off to Marco Island.  And finally the weather looks to be improving to what you would expect of south Florida.